On the night of Aug. 13 Chris Tucker returned to the stage at the Wild 94.9 Comedy Jam in Mountain View, Calif. It has been four years since he starred alongside Jackie Chan in 2007’s "Rush Hour 3," and since then, he's stayed out of movies and, mostly, out of the public eye.

Chris Tucker isn’t the first comedian to take refuge from undesirable roles in stand-up comedy, where there is personal freedom of speech unavailable in television and film. Dave Chappelle, who joined Tucker at the Wild 94.9 Comedy Jam, left his Comedy Central cable TV ‘Chappelle Show’ at the height of its popularity because, he said, he felt uncomfortable with subtle racial emasculation, among other pressures.